Houndoom (Update) [QC 2/2] {GP 2/2} Done

<p>At first glance, Houndoom seems unsuited to the ADV metagame, being entirely walled by the sponges Blissey and Curselax, stopped by bulky Water-types such as Milotic and Suicune, and trapped by the ubiquitous Dugtrio. However, Houndoom is capable of filling an often pivotal role: Pursuit-trapping the spinblocker Gengar while also providing a consistent switch-in to Celebi and Superachi with its immunity to Psychic, resistance to Grass, and powerful Fire Blast. Its ability to remove Gengar is especially significant, as it allows for the likes of Forretress and Cloyster to successfully Rapid Spin with greater ease. Pursuit also helps open up a sweep from the likes of Earthquake Curselax, and also allows Explosion to be used with less fear.</p>

<p>This set has a very simple premise behind it: – to defeat Ghost-types with maximum efficiency. Pursuit does exactly that, catching spinblockers switching out for double damage. Fire Blast is generally the better choice for the next slot as Flamethrower can fail to OHKO the likes of Metagross with some HP investment. Crunch is the primary choice for the third slot, as the threat of Pursuit often dissuades Gengar from switching out and it can land an OHKO on any brazen enough to stay in. Crunch can also actively threaten the rarer Dusclops, which can weaken Houndoom if it only has Pursuit. Hidden Power Grass can also fill the third slot to take a huge chunk out of Swampert and dent other Water-types. Finally, Hidden Power Ice can take out Salamence and Flygon, as Houndoom outspeeds their standard sets. The fourth slot can be filled by one of two status moves, namely Will-O-Wisp or Toxic. Will-O-Wisp is better against physical attackers such as Gyarados, Flygon, Tyranitar, Aerodactyl, Utilitylax, and Salamence, while Toxic cripples non-Rest Swampert and Milotic, and is also better in last-Pokemon situations.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EVs given hit 300 Speed, beating all standard Salamence and Flygon. If using Hidden Power Ice, you should drop Houndoom's Attack and Defense IVs to 30 as opposed to dropping its Speed IV. 56 HP gives a total divisible by 16 for optimal Leftovers gain. Maximum Special Attack is used rather than significant defensive investment because Houndoom is painfully frail and unlikely to stay around for a prolonged period of time.</p>

<p>Houndoom is a useful partner for the Spikes-laying spinners Forretress and Cloyster, as the pair have difficulty successfully executing a spin against more defensive Gengar and Dusclops in Cloyster's case and any Ghost-type whatsoever in Forretress's. With spinblockers out of the way, both Forretress and Cloyster will be able to more effectively keep Spikes off your side of the field. Houndoom also synergizes very well with Gengar, being immune to Psychic-type moves and resisting Ghost- and Dark-type moves, whilst Gengar is immune to Fighting- and Ground-type moves and can help Houndoom's Spikes-using partners keep their entry hazards up. Roar also works very well in conjunction with this combination of Pokemon to take advantage of Spikes to their fullest. However, this can be a dangerous strategy if the opponent has Dugtrio. Houndoom also enjoys support from Pokemon that are able to switch into bulky Water-types, such as RestTalk Zapdos and Celebi. Zapdos is useful in that it can absorb Gengar's Hypnosis, which can put Houndoom out of commission for a while, and also does not share a weakness to Dugtrio. However, Celebi also checks Snorlax and Blissey with the combination of Leech Seed and Calm Mind.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Rest is workable on Houndoom, as Early Bird halves its sleep duration. This markedly improves Houndoom's longevity; however, it can be dangerous as a sleeping Houndoom is easy Dugtrio prey—be sure to scout. Beat Up can work on Houndoom if you have a team heavy on physical attackers, as it has the potential to 2HKO the likes of Calm Mind Blissey. However, in doing this you often sacrifice coverage or status, and if your team is physically strong enough for Beat Up, then it shouldn't have problems with the special sponges. If you do use it, though, be sure to use nicknames so as not to prematurely reveal your team! Houndoom can exchange Early Bird for Flash Fire in order to get a boost off a predicted Fire attack, but it loses the ability to wake up more quickly from the likes of Gengar's Hypnosis and also gains a counter in Porygon2. Houndoom can potentially use a SunnyBeam set to clean up late-game, but it is generally far too slow to sweep, and this defies its main purpose as a Pursuit trapper. Sleep Talk without Rest is decent, due to the popularity of Hypnosis Gengar against Pursuit users, especially if you have no sleep absorber; however, it can be somewhat of a waste of a moveslot in a lot of cases.</p>

<p>Houndoom can use Counter alongside Will-O-Wisp, the idea behind the set being to catch Tyranitar or Snorlax on the switch-in with Will-O-Wisp and then survive an unboosted burnt Rock Slide or Earthquake to Counter it back for the KO. It can also do the same against burnt Aerodactyl's Rock Slide with 52 HP and 48 Defense EVs. However, in most cases you are better off switching to a defensive Pokemon such as Swampert or Skarmory, who can easily take these attacks and do damage or set up Spikes in return, because Tyranitar and Aerodactyl nearly always have no recovery or way to remove status and Snorlax sometimes will not Rest either.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Being a specially oriented, frail Fire-type, Houndoom is countered by a vast array of Pokemon. The special walls Snorlax and Blissey easily defeat it, sponging Fire Blasts merrily while either statusing Houndoom or just bashing away at it. Non-Rest Snorlax needs to watch out for Will-O-Wisp though, as this can cripple it and remove its offensive presence. Milotic and Suicune can switch into Houndoom repeatedly and threaten it with STAB super effective Surfs. Milotic is especially notable as it loves to absorb Will-O-Wisp thanks to its Marvel Scale ability. It also has instant recovery, unlike Suicune, which is forced to use Rest. However, Milotic must watch out for Toxic, as this will greatly decrease its longevity.</p>

<p>Dugtrio can trap and OHKO with Earthquake if brought in on a predicted switch or when Houndoom has just made a kill. However, one must remember that it cannot switch in on an awake Houndoom without the heavy risk of an OHKO from Fire Blast. Tyranitar, Salamence, Aerodactyl, Flygon, and Gyarados are all in the same boat when it comes to Houndoom: they are all fairly decent answers to it, resisting Fire moves and KOing back, but being physical attackers without a way to remove status, none of them can deal well with a Will-O-Wisp burn. RestTalk Zapdos can deal with Houndoom outside of sand or if it has Flamethrower instead of Fire Blast.</p>

Flash Fire sucks. Use Early Bird for Gengar. Roar is very viable on Houndoom. It lets you play around Dugtrio and it is very good with Forretress, a common Houndoom partner. Rest is okay too with early bird. Give that an OO mention. I think you understate how effective Houndoom is at checking Jirachi and Celebi. It is quite literally the best check to those mons, bar the random physical sets. Dugtrio is just what makes people think that Houndog isn't great.

What are the 12 SpD EVs for on the dog?

This is a pretty good analysis overall. Make the changes and u can get the SIR stamp of approval.

Edit*: The move Roar deserves a decent AC mention if i didn't make that clear.

Ok, sorted all the stuff you mentioned out. The 12 SpDef EVs are just there as 56 HP EVs gets a total divisible by 16, whereas 68 doesn't, and a few hitpoints won't make that much of a difference at the end of the day especially as the only attacks you want to be taking are special unless you're Countering, and I don't want to put speedcreep for things like SubPass Zapdos in the analysis. I can switch it to divisible by 16 + 1 if you so desire though.

All in all FF is not really worth because there are little to none fire moves and well, doom has no business switching on a possible fire blast from the ones who use it (mence, flygon), so yea Early Bird is better.

Also something silly, but I'd definitely suggest using nicknames on the whole team if you are using Beat Up. I mean cool you can 2-shot Blissey but you are spoiling your team in the process lol.

You can also include that Pursuit-trapping is also useful for letting Curselax with Earthquake get past a team with Gengar.

If using HP Ice, take 4 EVs out of Special Defense and place them into Speed in order to maintain this number.

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You don't need to do that. Lower Houndoom's Atk and Def IVs to 30 instead.

Houndoom also synergises very well with Gengar, being immune to Pyschic and resisting Ghost and Dark, whilst Gengar is immune to Fighting and Ground-type moves.

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add -type to all typings

edit: last thing to note is that Duggy can OHKO him even burned.

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^ Add this.

However, one must remember that it cannot switch in on an awake Houndoom without heavy risk.

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Elaborate further that Houndoom's Fire Blast is an OHKO.

I personally think Crunch should be the primary slash. With HP Grass or HP Ice, you must decide whether to hit Water- or Dragon-types hard; with Crunch you don't need to make this bargain, because it hits both hard. Not to mention it performs better versus Gengar if it decides to stay in than relying on Fire Blast (which isn't even a guaranteed OHKO), and some other random threats like Claydol. The occasional special drops do come in handy, too. HP Grass hits TTar, but Will-O-Wisp on the switch cripples TTar anyways.

GP check. Good job on writing this.
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[Overview]

<p>At first glance, Houndoom seems unsuited to the ADV metagame, being comprehensivelycompletely/utterly/a word you prefer(comprehensively doesn't feel like the right word here) walled by the sponges Blissey and Curselax, stopped by bulky Water-types such as Milotic and Suicune, and trapped by the ubiquitous Dugtrio. However, upon closer inspection, Houndoom fulfils theis capable of filling an often pivotal role (add colon)of Pursuit-trappingPursuit trapping the spinblocker Gengar, andwhile also providing a consistent switch intoswitch-in to Celebi and Superachi with its immunity to Psychic, resistance to Grass, and powerful Fire Blast. The former nicheIts ability to remove Gengar is especially significant, as it allows for the likes of Forretress and Cloyster to successfully carry out Rapid Spin with moregreater ease, who often find it difficult to keep Spikes off the field with a Ghost hampering their efforts. Also, the removal of Gengar can helphelps open up for a sweep from the likes of Earthquake Curselax, and also allows Explosion to be used with less fear.</p>

<p>This set has a very simple premise behind it – to defeat GhostsGhost-types with maximalmaximum efficiency. Pursuit does exactly that, catching spinblockers switching awayout for double damage. The next slot is filled by the obligatory powerful Fire STAB of choice, threatening the likes of Celebi and Jirachi. Fire Blast is the more powerful version, whereas Flamethrower can be used for PP and accuracy.Fire Blast is generally the better choice for the next slot as Flamethrower can miss an OHKO on the likes of Metagross with some HP investment though. Crunch is the primary choice for the thridthird slot, as the threat of Pursuit often dissuades Gengar from switching out, (remove comma) and Crunchit can land an OHKO on a Gengarany brazen enough to stay in. Crunch can also actively threaten the rarer Dusclops, which can weaken Houndoom if it only has Pursuit. Hidden Power Grass can also fill the third slot to take a huge chunk out of Swampert and dent other WatersWater-types. Hidden Power Ice can also be used for Salamence and Flygon, however, as Houndoom usefully outspeeds their standard sets. The fourth slot can be filled by one of two status moves – Will-O-Wisp and Toxic. Will-O-Wisp is better against physical attackers such as Gyarados, Flygon, Tyranitar, Aerodactyl, Utilitylax, and Salamence, (remove comma)whereaswhile Toxic cripples non-Rest Swampert and Milotic, (remove comma) and also is better in last-pokelast Pokemon situations.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EVs given hit 300 Speed, beating all standard Salamence and Flygon. If using HPHidden Power Ice, you should drop Houndoom's Attack and Defense IVs to 30 as opposed to dropping its Speed IV. 56 HP gives a total divisible by 16 for optimal Leftovers gain. MaximalMaximum Special Attack is used aboverather than significant defensive investment because Houndoom is painfully frail and unlikely to stay around for a prolonged period of time.</p>

<p>Houndoom is a useful partner for the Spiker-SpinnersSpikes using spinners Forretress and Cloyster, as the pair have difficulty successfully executing a spin against more defensive builds of Gengar and Dusclops in Cloyster’s (change to straight apostrophe) case, (remove comma) and in Forretress’ case any GhostGhost-type whatsoever in Forretress's. With the lack of spinblockerspinblockers out of the way, both Forretress and Cloyster are more proficiently able to keep Spikes off your side of the field more proficiently. Both aforementioned Rapid Spinners use Spikes, so an advisable partner is defensive Gengar. Houndoom also synergisessynergizes very well with Gengar, being immune to Pyschic-type moves and resisting GhostGhost- and Dark-type moves, (remove comma) whilst Gengar is immune to FightingFighting- and Ground-type moves and can help Houndoom's Spikes using partners keep their entry hazards up. Roar also works very well withinwith / in conjunction with this combination of Pokemon to exploitutilize / take advantage of Spikes to their fullest. However, this can be a dangerous strategy if the opponent has Dugtrio. Houndoom also enjoys support from Pokemon whichthat are able to switch into bulky Water-types, such as RestTalk Zapdos and Celebi. Zapdos is useful, as it absorbscan absorb Gengar’s (change to straight apostrophe) Hypnosis, which can put Houndoom out of commission for a while, and also does not share a weakness to Dugtrio. However, Celebi is useful as it also checks Snorlax and Blissey with the combination of Leech Seed and Calm Mind.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Rest can be workable on Houndoom, as with Early Bird, the sleep duration halves. This markedly improves Houndoom's longevity, (change to semicolon) however (add comma) it can be dangerous as a sleeping Houndoom is easy Dugtrio prey - be sure to scout. Beat Up can work on Houndoom if you have a very strong team in terms of physical attack, as it has the potential to 2HKO the likes of Calm Mind Blissey. When using Beat Up, be sure to use nicknames so as not to prematurely reveal your team! However, in doing this you often sacrifice coverage or status, and if your team is physically strong enough for Beat Up, then it shouldn’t (change to straight apostrophe) have problems with the special sponges. If you do use it however, be sure to use nicknames so as not to prematurely reveal your team! Houndoom can exchange Early Bird for Flash Fire in order to get a boost off a predicted Fire attack, (change to semicolon) however (add comma) it loses the ability to wake up more quickly from the likes of Gengar's Hypnosis, (remove comma) and also gains a counter in Porygon2. Houndoom can potentially use a SunnyBeam set to clean up late-game, but it is generally far too slow to comprehensively sweep, and this defies its main purpose as a Pursuit trapper. Sleep Talk without Rest is decent, (remove comma) due to the popularity of Hypnosis Gengar against PursuitersPursuit users(add comma)and alsoespecially if you have no sleep absorber, (change to semicolon) however (add comma) it can be somewhat of a waste of a moveslot in a lot of cases.</p>

<p>Houndoom can use Counter alongside Will-O-Wisp, the idea behind the set being that it catchesto catch Tyranitar or Snorlax on the switch-in with Will-O-Wisp, (remove comma) and then survivessurvive an unboosted burnt Rock Slide or Earthquake to Counter it back for the KO. It can also do the same foragainst Aerodactyl’s (change to straight apostrophe) burnt Rock Slide with 52 HP and 48 Defense EVs. However, in most cases you are better off switching to a defensive Pokemon like Swampert or Skarmory to easily take the aforementionedthese attacks and do damage or set up Spikes in return, (remove comma) because Tyranitar and Aerodactyl nearly always have no recovery or way to remove status, (remove comma) and Snorlax sometimes will not Rest either.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Being a specially oriented, frail Fire-type, Houndoom is countered by a vast array of Pokemon. The special walls Snorlax and Blissey easily defeat it, sponging Fire Blasts merrily while either statusing Houndoom or just bashing away at it. Non-Rest Snorlax needs to watch out for Will-O-Wisp though, as itthis can cripple Snorlaxit and remove its offensive presence. Milotic and Suicune can switch into Houndoom repeatedly and threaten it with STAB Super Effectivesuper effective Surfs. Milotic is especially notable as it loves to absorb Will-O-Wisp with its Marvel Scale ability, (remove comma) and also has instant recovery unlike Suicune, which is forced to use Rest. However, Milotic must watch out for Toxic, as this could be very dangerous forwill greatly decrease its longevity.</p>

<p>Dugtrio can trap and OHKO Houndoom with Earthquake, (remove comma) if brought in on a predicted switch or when Houndoom has just made a kill. However, one must remember that it cannot switch in on an awake Houndoom without the heavy risk of an OHKO from Fire Blast. Tyranitar, Salamence, Aerodactyl, Flygon, and Gyarados are all in the same boat when it comes to Houndoom - they are all fairly decent answers to it, resisting Fire moves and KOing back, but being physical attackers without a way to remove status, none of them can deal with the burning effect of Will-O-Wisp well, being physical attackers without a way to remove status. RestTalk Zapdos can deal with Houndoom outside of sand, (remove comma) or if Houndoomit has Flamethrower aboveinstead of Fire Blast.</p>[/QUOTE]

<p>This set has a very simple premise behind it – to defeat Ghost-types with maximum efficiency. Pursuit does exactly that, catching spinblockers switching out for double damage. Fire Blast is generally the better choice for the next slot as Flamethrower can miss an OHKO on the likes of Metagross with some HP investment though.

Click to expand...

Hey no problem. Just one small thing I missed when I made a change to this sentence. And that thing with the commas can be fixed if you do what Redew said to in this thread.

<p>At first glance, Houndoom seems unsuited to the ADV metagame, being entirely walled by the sponges Blissey and Curselax, stopped by bulky Water-types such as Milotic and Suicune, and trapped by the ubiquitous Dugtrio. However, Houndoom is capable of filling an often pivotal role: Pursuit-(hyphen)trapping the spinblocker Gengar while also providing a consistent switch-in to Celebi and Superachi with its immunity to Psychic, resistance to Grass, and powerful Fire Blast. Its ability to remove Gengar is especially significant, as it allows for the likes of Forretress and Cloyster to successfully Rapid Spin with greater ease. Pursuit also helps open up a sweep from the likes of Earthquake Curselax, and also allows Explosion to be used with less fear.</p>

<p>This set has a very simple premise behind it:– to defeat Ghost-types with maximum efficiency. Pursuit does exactly that, catching spinblockers switching out for double damage. Fire Blast is generally the better choice for the next slot as Flamethrower can miss an OHKO on (would 'can fail to OHKO the likes of' etc be a better way of phrasing this? up to you, though) the likes of Metagross with some HP investment. Crunch is the primary choice for the third slot, as the threat of Pursuit often dissuades Gengar from switching out and it can land an OHKO on any brazen enough to stay in. Crunch can also actively threaten the rarer Dusclops, which can weaken Houndoom if it only has Pursuit. Hidden Power Grass can also fill the third slot to take a huge chunk out of Swampert and dent other Water-types. Finally, Hidden Power Ice can also be used fortake outvarying up sentence structure; you've repeated 'can also' quite a bit :x Salamence and Flygon, however, as Houndoom outspeeds their standard sets. The fourth slot can be filled by one of two status moves, namely– Will-O-Wisp andor Toxic. Will-O-Wisp is better against physical attackers such as Gyarados, Flygon, Tyranitar, Aerodactyl, Utilitylax I'd really rather just call this Utility Snorlax, but if you think it's a standard enough term - it's your call, and Salamence,(comma) while Toxic cripples non-Rest Swampert and Milotic,(comma) and also isis also better in last-(hyphen)Pokemon situations.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EVs given hit 300 Speed, beating all standard Salamence and Flygon. If using Hidden Power Ice, you should drop Houndoom's Attack and Defense IVs to 30 as opposed to dropping its Speed IV. 56 HP gives a total divisible by 16 for optimal Leftovers gain. Maximum Special Attack is used rather than significant defensive investment because Houndoom is painfully frail and unlikely to stay around for a prolonged period of time.</p>

<p>Houndoom is a useful partner for the Spikes using spinners does this mean 'Spikes-laying spinners Forretress and Cloyster' — as in, that forre and cloy are spinners that also lay spikes? if so, changing it to 'Spikes-laying' or 'Spikes-setting' might help clarify your meaning, but if i'm misunderstanding you let me know Forretress and Cloyster, as the pair have difficulty successfully executing a spin against more defensive builds ofnot strictly wrong, but the sentence is kinda long/ hard-to-follow enough already Gengar and Dusclops in Cloyster's case and any Ghost-type whatsoever in Forretress's. With spinblockers out of the way, both Forretress and Cloyster arewill be able to more effectively keep Spikes off your side of the field more proficiently. Houndoom also synergizes very well with Gengar, being immune to Psychic-type moves and resisting Ghost- and Dark-type moves, whilst Gengar is immune to Fighting- and Ground-type moves and can help Houndoom's Spikes-using partners keep their entry hazards up. Roar also works very well in conjunction with this combination of Pokemon to take advantage of Spikes to their fullest. However, this can be a dangerous strategy if the opponent has Dugtrio. Houndoom also enjoys support from Pokemon that are able to switch into bulky Water-types, such as RestTalk Zapdos and Celebi. Zapdos is useful, asin that it can absorb Gengar's Hypnosis, which can put Houndoom out of commission for a while, and also does not share a weakness to Dugtrio. However, Celebi is useful as it also checks Snorlax and Blissey with the combination of Leech Seed and Calm Mind.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Rest can beis workable on Houndoom, as with Early Bird, the sleep duration halvesas Early Bird halves its sleep duration. This markedly improves Houndoom's longevity; however, it can be dangerous as a sleeping Houndoom is easy Dugtrio prey—be sure to scout. Beat Up can work on Houndoom if you have a very strong team in terms of physical attacka team heavy on physical attackers, as it has the potential to 2HKO the likes of Calm Mind Blissey. However, in doing this you often sacrifice coverage or status, and if your team is physically strong enough for Beat Up, then it shouldn't have problems with the special sponges. If you do use it,(comma)howeverthough, be sure to use nicknames so as not to prematurely reveal your team! Houndoom can exchange Early Bird for Flash Fire in order to get a boost off a predicted Fire attack,however,but it loses the ability to wake up more quickly from the likes of Gengar's Hypnosis and also gains a counter in Porygon2. Houndoom can potentially use a SunnyBeam set to clean up late-game, but it is generally far too slow to sweep, and this defies its main purpose as a Pursuit trapper. Sleep Talk without Rest is decent, due to the popularity of Hypnosis Gengar against Pursuit users, especially if you have no sleep absorber; however, it can be somewhat of a waste of a moveslot in a lot of cases.</p>

<p>Houndoom can use Counter alongside Will-O-Wisp, the idea behind the set being to catch Tyranitar or Snorlax on the switch-in with Will-O-Wisp and then survive an unboosted burnt Rock Slide or Earthquake to Counter it back for the KO. It can also do the same against burnt Aerodactyl's burnt Rock Slide with 52 HP and 48 Defense EVs. However, in most cases you are better off switching to a defensive Pokemon likesuch as Swampert or Skarmory,towho can easily take these attacks and do damage or set up Spikes in return, because Tyranitar and Aerodactyl nearly always have no recovery or way to remove status and Snorlax sometimes will not Rest either.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Being a specially oriented, frail Fire-type, Houndoom is countered by a vast array of Pokemon. The special walls Snorlax and Blissey easily defeat it, sponging Fire Blasts merrily while either statusing Houndoom or just bashing away at it. Non-Rest Snorlax needs to watch out for Will-O-Wisp though, as this can cripple it and remove its offensive presence. Milotic and Suicune can switch into Houndoom repeatedly and threaten it with STAB super effective Surfs. Milotic is especially notable as it loves to absorb Will-O-Wisp withthanks to its Marvel Scale ability.(period)andIt also has instant recovery,(comma) unlike Suicune, which is forced to use Rest. However, Milotic must watch out for Toxic, as this will greatly decrease its longevity.</p>

<p>Dugtrio can trap and OHKO with Earthquake if brought in on a predicted switch or when Houndoom has just made a kill. However, one must remember that it cannot switch in on an awake Houndoom without the heavy risk of an OHKO from Fire Blast. Tyranitar, Salamence, Aerodactyl, Flygon, and Gyarados are all in the same boat when it comes to Houndoom: they are all fairly decent answers to it, resisting Fire moves and KOing back, but being physical attackers without a way to remove status, none of them can deal with the burning effect of Will-O-Wisp well with a Will-O-Wisp burn. RestTalk Zapdos can deal with Houndoom outside of sand or if it has Flamethrower instead of Fire Blast.</p>